THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, March 15, 1995 TAG: 9503150458
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
The City Council passed a new anti-graffiti ordinance Tuesday that it hopes business owners will see as an offer they can't refuse.
Wash or cover the spray-painted scrawling on the side of your store or office within 15 days of receiving a notice from the city, and earn a $50 check from the city.
But wait more than 30 days, and the city will begin assessing fines of $100 per day, up to a total of $1,500.
The law was passed on the premise that graffiti can make an area go downhill fast. And if it's not cleaned up quickly, it can encourage more graffiti.
The new ordinance is the product of months of work by council members and city staff members, who consulted with business owners and organizations and repeatedly adjusted the ordinance's penalties and incentives. Councilman Randy Wright and G. Conoly Phillips were particularly active in working on the law.
The council passed the law unanimously, with the provision that it be re-evaluated after 18 months. It also includes provisions that are designed to prod parents to more closely supervise teenagers.
The law makes parents of a child judged responsible for graffiti liable for all cleanup costs incurred by either a business or the city. In addition, the parents are responsible for paying court costs and attorney's fees if the city or a business owner takes a case to civil court for damages and wins.
If a child is assigned community service by the courts, then a parent or guardian must be with the child half the time. The minimum community service penalty would be 30 hours.
In other action Tuesday, the council:
Appropriated the extra $2.45 million needed to finish the troubled Granby Municipal Building on Granby Street. The city ran into major cost overruns finishing the renovation of the 100-year-old building and recently hired a private engineering firm to supervise construction. The building is now scheduled to be finished by year's end.
According to city staff members, the Granby Municipal Building will cost $85 per square foot - or about $8.5 million. To build a new office building of similar size would have cost $80 per square foot, although this figure does not include land costs.
Another comparison given was that the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority's cost for renovating three nearby old buildings for the new campus of Tidewater Community College is $84 per square foot.
The council agreed to fund construction with the promise that renovation be finished by the end of the year. Several city departments, including the Utilities Department, are scheduled to move into the building once it is completed.
KEYWORDS: NORFOLK CITY COUNCIL by CNB